A  NEW  WORLD 


Hampton,  Va. 
Normal  School  Press  Print 

1886 


( 


c 


A  New  World. 


There  is  no  movement  in  our  day  more  interesting  or  significant, 
than  that  which  draws  the  eyes  of  the  nations  toward  Africa.  An¬ 
nexation  and  colonization  are  rapidly  giving  permanent  political  re¬ 
lations  to  all  parts  of  the  land  and  to  all  its  inhabitants.  Great  trad¬ 
ing  companies  have  taken  their  posts  on  every  unoccupied  coast,  on 
nearly  every  available  river  course,  and  are  planting  their  factories 
far  inland,  to  reach  and  develop  the  unknown  resources  of  this 
mighty  territory.  Scientific  forces  are  equally  active  and  energetic. 
Exploration  is  going  forward  most  systematically  and  persistently 
from  many  points  on  the  eastern,  western  and  southern  shores ; 
national  societies  and  private  corporations  are  thus  engaged  in  trac¬ 
ing  out  physical  features  and  accurately  locating  peoples,  cities  and 
towns,  and  the  Christian  world  is  alert  in  founding  missionary  stations 
among  almost  every  tribe  of  the  wonderful  Continent. 

GOVERNMENTAL. 

A  curious  feature  of  the  times  is  the  disposition  of  the  chief 
powers  ot  Europe  to  “annex”  African  territory.  Great  Britain  and 
Germany  seem  anxious  to  compete  with  each  other  in  unfurling  “pro¬ 
tection”  flags  on  the  shores  of  the  “Dark  Continent.  ” 

A  decree  announcing  that  the  British  government  had  assumed 
the  protectorate  over  the  country  lying  north  of  Cape  Colony — 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  parallel  of  latitude  22  deg.  south,  on  the 
west  by  20  deg.  east  longitude,  and  on  the  east  by  the  border  line  of 
the  Transvaal  territory — marks  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  South 
Africa.  A  more  important  order  is  that  “the  British  protectorate  of 
the  Niger  district  comprises  the  territories  on  the  line  of  coast  be- 
we  en  the  British  protectorate  of  Lagos  and  the  right  or  western 
river  bank  of  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  del  Rey.  It  further  comprises 
the  territories  on  both  banks  of  the  river  Binue  from  the  confluence 
up  to  and  including  Ibi.”  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  whole  of  the 
Niger  mouths  are  now  under  British  protection,  and  that  in  the 
south  the  British  possessions  march  with  those  of  Germany.  Ibi  is 
about  230  miles  up  the  Binue  from  its  continence  with  the  Niger. 


2 


The  future  seizure  of  the  territory  on  the  west  coast  by  Great  Britain 
and  Germany  is  thus  regulated  by  agreement; — “Great  Britain  en¬ 
gages  not  to  make  acquisitions  of  territory,  accept  protectorates  or 
interfere  with  the  extension  of  German  influences  in  that  part  of  the 
coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  or  in  the  interior  districts  to  the  east  of 
the  following  line — that  is,  on  the  coast,  the  right  bank  of  the  Rio 
del  Rev,  entering  the  sea  between  8  deg.  42  min,  and  8  deg.  46  min. 
longitude  east  of  Greenwich;  in  the  interior  a  line  following  the  right 
river  bank  the  Rio  del  Rey  from  the  said  mouth  to  its  source,  then 
striking  direct  to  the  left  river  bank  of  the  Old  Calabar  or  Cross  riv¬ 
er,  and  terminating  after  crossing  that  river  at  the  point  about  9  deg. 
8  min.  of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich,  marked  ‘Rapids’  on  the  En¬ 
glish  Admiralty  chart.  Germany  engages  not  to  make  acquisitions, 
accept  protectorates,  or  interfere  with  the  extension  of  British  influ¬ 
ence  in  that  part  of  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  lying  between  the 
right  river  bank  of  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  del  Rey,  as  above  de¬ 
scribed,  and  the  British  colony  of  Lagos;  nor  in  the  interior  to  the 
west  of  the  line  traced  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  Both  powers 
agree  to  withdraw  any  protectorate  already  established  within  the 
limits  thus  assigned  to  the  other,  a  reservation  being  specially  made 
as  to  the  settlement  of  Victoria,  Ambas  Bay,  which  will  continue  to 
be  British  possessions.  Germany  engages  to  withdraw  her  protest 
against  the  hoisting  of  the  British  flag  at  Santa  Lucia  Bay,  and  to 
refrain  from  making  acquisitions  of  territory,  or  establishing  protec¬ 
torates  on  the  coast  between  the  colony  of  Natal  and  Delagoa  Bay.” 

Commenting  on  the  decision  of  the  British  government  to 
strengthen  the  fortifications  at  Sierra  Leone,  St.  Helena,  Table  Bay 
and  Simon’s  Bay,  the  leading  journal  at  Freetown  says  :  “Our  colony 
has  been  selected  as  the  most  convenient  station  between  England 
and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  into  which  her  Majesty’s  ships-of-war 
and  mercantile  vessels  may  safely  put  for  shelter  and  supplies  in  case 
of  emergency.  To  adapt  this  port  for  this  and  other  purposes  the 
imperial  government  have  proposed  to  spend  the  round  sum  of  ^52, 
000,  of  which  ^30,000  are  to  be  devoted  to  works  and  ^22,000  to  arm- 
mament.  The  safety  and  convenience  of  our  harbor,  together  with 
other  considerations,  place  Sierra  Leone  at  an  advantage  over  the 
other  West  African  colonies,  and  it  is  but  natural  that  the  choice  of 
the  British  Government  should  have  fallen  on  this  settlement.”  The 
British  Government  has  ordered  an  increase  in  the  consular  staff  in 
Western  Africa,  especially  to  stimulate  trade  on  the  Congo.  Hon. 
Herr  Gerhard  Rohlfs,  appointed  consul-general  of  Germany,  is  the 
bearer  of  a  letter,  translated  into  Arabic,  from  the  Emperor  William 
to  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar.  The  German  flag  has  been  raised  on  the 


3 


river  Dubreka,  claimed  by  France.  Coba  is  about  twelve  and 
Kabatai  thirty  square  miles  in  extent,  with  a  population  of  30,000. 
Commissioner  Herr  Falkenthal  has  there  entered  on  his  duties,  and 
the  Governor  ot  the  Cameroons,  Baron  Von  Soden,  has  arrived  out 
in  company  with  Chancellor  Von  Puttkamer. 

The  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  has  been  notified  that  the  regions  to  the 
west  of  his  dominions  have  been  placed  under  German  protection, 
and  a  German  consular  judge  appointed  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over 
them.  Pangani,  lying  to  the  north  of  Usagaea,  containing  some  4,500 
square  miles,  has  also  been  transferred  to  the  German  empire.  A 
steamer,  constructed  mostly  of  steel,  to'  be  at  the  service  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernor  of  the  Cameroons,  has  been  launched  at  Kiel,  receiving  the  ap¬ 
propriate  name  of  Nachtigal.  The  German  parliament  has  voted 
187,500  francs  for  African  explorations. 

France  continues  her  aggressive  operations  about  the  headwaters 
of  the  Niger,  and  she  has  seized  Grand  Popo  and  neighboring  ports. 
The  latter  acquisition  is  sandwiched  between  the  British  settlements 
around  Cape  Coast  and  Whydah.  Spain  has  a  revival  of  her  old  co¬ 
lonial  spirit,  and  has  annexed  the  coast  between  Cape  Bogador,  a  lit¬ 
tle  to  the  south  of  Morocco  and  Cape  Blauco,  (20  deg.  2 1  min.  N.,)  both 
included,  and  in  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  claims  the  coast  line  from  the 
Muni  river,  which  forms  the  northern  boundary  of  the  French  possess¬ 
ions  on  the  Gaboon,  (o  deg.  43  min.  N.,)  to  the  Rio  Campo,  (2  deg.  41 
min.  N.)  Portugal  has  organized  her  Congo  possessions  to  re 
main  under  the  authority  of  the  Governor-General  of  Angola.  Ca 
bindahas  been  fixed  upon  as  the  seat  of  government  for  the  new  dis¬ 
trict  and  the  residence  of  the  Lieutenant-Governor.  Italy  has  seized 
Massowah  and  dispatched  expeditions  to  the  Congo  country  and  to 
another  unoccupied  portion  of  the  “  Dark  Continent.” 

Why  should  not  the  powers  of  Europe,  especially  England, 
France  and  Germany,  leave  defenceless  Africa  alone,  restricting  them¬ 
selves  to  legitimate  commerce  ?  All  public  law  is  set  aside,  all  the 
conventional  decencies  of  warfare,  all  idea  of  meum  and  teum  are  put 
out  of  sight.  A  government  agent  and  vessel  drop  along  the  coast 
and  hoist  up  a  flag  in  token  that  that  particular  town,  whether  part  of 
Damaraland  or  Namaqualand,  or  the  Cameroons,  or  the  Gold  Coast, 
has  ceased  to  belong  to  the  tribe  which  has  inhabited  it  for  centuries, 
and  is  transferred  to  a  European  power.  In  the  scramble  for  African 
territory  the  points  of  collision  between  rival  nations  will  naturally 
increase,  and  a  conflagration  that  will  sweep  over  Europe  may  be 
kindled  from  a  stray  spark  struck  in  Africa. 

THE  BERLIN  CONFERENCE. 

There  is  every  reason  to  hope  that  the  results  of  the  International 


4 


Conference  held  at  Berlin  will  prove  all  that  the  friends  of  Africa 
could  reasonably  expect.  It  would  be  impossible  to  enter  fully  into 
the  several  provisions  of  the  Acte  Generate  passed  by  the  Conference  ; 
it  will  suffice  to  give  briefly  their  main  import. 

The  principle  of  free  commerce  in  its  widest  sense  was  estab¬ 
lished  in  the  immense  basin  of  the  Congo  —a  maritime  belt  of  360 
miles  along  the  Atlantic,  was  placed  on  the  same  footing,  and  its 
future  extension  to  the  east  coast  made  probable  on  a  still  vaster 
scale.  In  this  wide  territory  no  import  duties  will  be  levied  for  twenty 
years,  nor  will  such  dues  ever  be  exacted  in  the  possessions  of  the 
International  African  Association,  which  constitute  by  far  the 
largest  part.  Native  and  white  men  have  similar  rights  guaranteed  to 
them.  Allreligions  are  tolerated,  whilst  the  protection  of  the  aborigi¬ 
nes  and  the  proscription  of  the  slave  trade  are  to  be  the  fundamental 
principles  of  public  lav/ in  the  states  and  colonies  of  Central  Africa. 

It  was  further  enacted  that  special  measures  are  to  be  adopted, 
both  by  land  and  sea,  against  the  slave  trade,  which  continues  to  be 
the  great  scourge  of  Central  Africa,  and  one  of  the  principal  obsta¬ 
cles  to  civilization. 

It  was  provided  that  States  constituted  in  the  basin  of  the  Congo, 
and  powers  founding  colonies  there,  will  have  the  right  of  neutraliz- 
izing  their  possessions,  either  perpetually  or  temporarily. 

One  of  the  dispositions  adopted  by  the  Conference  tends  to  pre¬ 
vent  European  wars  from  extending  to  Africa,  and  in  the  event  of 
disagreements  arising  in  Africa  itself  between  the  powers  of  the  basin 
of  the  Congo,  recourse  will  be  had  to  mediation  if  not  arbitration. 

The  free  navigation  of  the  Congo  and  its  affluents  was  pro¬ 
claimed,  comprising  an  extent  of  above  5,000  kiloms,  (3,106  miles,) 
open  to  flags  of  all  nations  ;  and  what  applies  to  the  river  will,  ac¬ 
cordingly  to  a  somewhat  original  idea,  apply  also  to  railway,  canal  or 
road  supplying  the  place  of  any  obstructed  part  of  the  river.  The 
transit  dues  must  only  be  such  as  will  compensate  the  cost  of  works 
executed  in  the  bed  of  the  r  iver  or  commercial  establishments  erected 
on  its  banks. 

An  international  commission,  tc  which  each  of  the  contracting 
powers  has  a  right  to  appoint  a  delegate,  is  specially  charged  to  see 
that  all  nations  benefit  equally  from  the  freedom  of  navigation  and 
transit.  It  will  at  the  same  time  have  to  provide  in  concert  with  the 
riverine  powers  for  the  improvement  or  maintenance  of  the  regime 
Jluviale ,  the  security  of  navigators,  and  the  carrying  out  of  ^necessary 
improvements. 

All  works  and  establishments  are  neutralized  in  time  of  war,  and 
lastly,  the  act  passed  declares  that  the  navigation  of  the  Congo  shall 


5 


remain  open  in  time  of  war  for  ships  of  all  nations,  both  belligerent 
as  well  as  neutral,  and  that  private  property  will  be  respected,  even 
though  under  an  enemy’s  flag,  on  all  the  waters  covered  by  the  act. 

These  dispositions  constitute  a  remarkable  orogress  in  interna¬ 
tional  law,  and  confirm  those  principles  adopted  by  Belgium,  and  to 
which  she  owes  the  emancipation  of  her  principal  river.  They 
moreover  embody  the  spirit  of  all  the  treaties  concluded  by  the  In¬ 
ternational  African  Association,  and  set  forth  the  objects  it  has  pur¬ 
sued. 

While  the  Conference  were  sitting  at  Berlin  the  International 
African  Assocation  concluded  treaties  with  England,  Denmark, 
Italy,  Austria,  Holland,  Belgium,  Russia,  Spain  and  the  United  King¬ 
dom  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  whereby  all  these  powers  agreed  to  re¬ 
cognize  its  flag  as  that  of  a  friendly  State,  the  Association  engaging  on 
its  side  to  accord  to  the  subjects  of  these  powers  full  rights. 

A  further  important  negotiation  was  concluded  during  the  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  Conference  in  reference  to  the  territorial  limits  of  the  new 
Free  State  arid  those  of  the  French  and  Portuguese  possessions  in 
the  same  region — muii  disputed  matters  which  were  not  settled  un¬ 
til  after  long  and  interrupted  negotiation.  A  final  arrangement  was, 
however,  happ.ily  arrived  at,  and  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Paris,  and  on 
the  17th  of  February  an  analogous  one  was  concluded  with  Portu- 
gal 

By  those  treaties  the  question  of  the  ancient  claims  of  Portugal 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Congo  was  definitely  decided.  Had  it  not  been 
thus  disposed  of,  serious  complications  might  have  arisen  in  the  fu¬ 
ture,  and  the  whole  work  of  the  International  Association  been  marred. 
Instead  of  this  a  definite  agreement,  sanctioned  by  all  the  powers, 
has  been  made,  and  a  new  region  opened  to  the  commerce  and  industry 
of  the  civilized  world. 

The  frontiers  of  the  three  powers  will  be  best  studied  on  a  map 
illustrating  the  Congo  region,  but  it  may  be  mentioned  that,  by  the 
convention  with  Portugal,  this  power  gets  the  south  or  left  bank  of 
the  Congo,  from  its  mouth  to  Nokki,  a  distance  of  ninety  miles, 
where  there  is  a  Portuguese  and  a  French  factory,  the  Association 
retaining  the  right  bank,  with  twenty-three  miles  of  coast,  extending 
from  Banana  to  a  point  south  of  Cabinda  Bay.  Here  Portuguese 
territory  again  begins,  so  as  to  enclose  the  districts  around  Cabinda, 
Melembo,  Saudana  and  Massabe,  where  the  Association  has  long  been 
established.  This  Portuguese  enclave,  as  it  is  called,  extends  inland 
for  thirty  or  forty  miles,  as  far  east  as  the  Suendu,  a  tributary  of  the 
Chiloango.  From  Nokki  the  Portuguese  frontier  runs  east  to  the 
Kwango,  a  tributary  of  the  Congo,  and  there  turns  south.  By  the 


6 


icnito 


Fc.Ua- 


V(c4or*a.< 


!ta.-ntu.y?o 


Z  a  aj^nV  ' 


CONGO  TREE  STATE  \ 

With.'  I 

FRENCH  a-r^i  PORTITGU-ESJ 
TERRITORIES. _ 


convention  with  France  the  Association  yields  to  this  power  the 
whole  of  the  valley  of  the  Kwilu,  called  on  its  upper  reaches  the 
Niadi,  where  it  was  in  possession  of  large  tracts  of  country  and  had 
established  eighteen  stations.  In  exchange  for  this  concession  it  re¬ 
tained  the  left  bank  of  Stanley  Pool,  which  France  had  claimed 
through  an  act  of  annexation  of  De  Brazza’s  lieutenant,  Malamine. 
Above  Manayunga,  and  up  the  Congo  to  a  point  beyond  the  i  iver 
Sikona,  this  river  forms  the  boundary  between  African  France  and 
the  Free  State.  Beyond  this  again  the  territory  of  the  latter  widens 
considerably,  comprising  a  wide  unexplored  belt  on  either  side  of  the 
river  to  lakes  Tanganyika  and  Bangweolo. 


THE  CONGO  FREE  STATE.* 

We  are  glad  to  give  a  sketch-map  of  the  new  Congo  Free  State, 
indicating  also  the  French  and  Portuguese  territories  adjoining,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  settlement  recently  made  in  connection  with  the  Ber- 

*  Acknowledgment  of  obligations  is  gratefully  made  to  the  American  Board  of  Com¬ 
missioners  for  Foreign  Missions  for  the  above  “  map  of  the  New  Congo  Free  State.-’ 
and  to  the  Missionary  Herald ,  of  Boston;  Foreign  Missionary  of  New  York,  and  A  Jr  lean 
Times ,  of  London,  for  facts  and  figures  freely  incorporated  in  this  and  preceding  papers. 


7 


lin  Conference.  This  map  has  been  prepared  from  a  larger  colored 
map  given  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  English  Royal  Geographical  So¬ 
ciety.  The  French  territory  is  designated  by  parallel  lines,  the  Por¬ 
tuguese  by  diagonal  lines,  and  the  Free  State  by  the  area  which  is 
tinted.  A  small  section  on  the  coast  north  of  the  Congo,  embracing 
a  region  thirty  or  forty  miles  inland,  is  also  assigned  to  the  Portu¬ 
guese,  but  is  not  very  clearly  indicated  on  our  map.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  territory  ol  the  Free  State  extends  south  of  the  Congo 
river  to  a  point  below  the  rapids,  thus  giving  it  contro,  of  what 
must  be  the  highway  from  the  sea  to  the  Upper  Congo.  The  rail¬ 
road  around  the  Falls,  from  tide  water  to  Stanley  Pool,  is  to  pass  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  river.  The  area  of  the  Free  State  is  about 
1,300,000  square  miles.  The  flag  of  the  new  State  is  a  field  of  blue 
with  a  golden  star  in  the  centre.  Long  may  this  flag  wave  over  a 
State  truly  free ! 

MR.  STANLEY  IN  LIBERIA. 

If  our  limits  allowed,  we  should  be  glad  to  make  copious  ex¬ 
tracts  from  Mr.  Stanley’s  valuable  book  on  the  “Congo  Free  State,’' 
the  perusal  of  which  has  suggested  the  following,  which  our  expe¬ 
rience  has  already  indicated.  First — That  the  most  important  im¬ 
pressions  yet  made  upon  the  central  or  remote  portions  of  the  “Dark 
Continent”  have  been  made  by  private  enterprise.  As  illustrations 
of  this  we  have  the  work  of  missionary  societies;  the  effects  pro¬ 
duced  by  the  establishment  of  Liberia  by  the  American  Colonization 
Society  ;  and  now  the  vast  transforming  taking  place  in  the  hitherto 
most  neglected  part  of  that  country  under  the  influence  of  the  Inter¬ 
national  African  Association.  Second — The  next  idea  prominently 
held  out  is  that  the  human  agencies  for  effective  reformingor  melior¬ 
ating  work  on  Africa,  especially  among  white  men,  are  rare  and  diffi¬ 
cult  to  find.  Mr.  Stanley’s  experience,  even  of  some  of  the  most 
promising  of  his  European  assistants  has  been  discouraging.  He 
thus  refers  to  them,  vol.  r,  p.  465: 

“  Experience  has  taught  me  already  that  to  leave  my  principal 
base  in  the  hands  of  flighty-headed  young  people  who  recognized  no 
higher  law  than  their  own  impulses  and  passions,  was  to  prepare  for 
myself  endless  trouble  and  continual  anxiety.  I  needed  a  solid,  relia¬ 
ble  gentleman  of  sufficient  reputation  and  weight  of  judgment  to  in¬ 
spire  respect  in  his  subordinates  ;  one  whose  name  would  be  a  guar¬ 
antee  for  stability  of  character,  whose  word  would  be  as  good  as  his 
bond,  and  whose  past  conduct  might  be  taken  as  an  indubitable  proof 
that  his  future  actions  would  be  also  highly  creditable  to  him.  Such 
persons — so  new  to  the  necessities  of  a  hard  practical  life,  that  they 


8 


at  once  confessed  themselves  crushed  in  the  presence  of  every  new 
exigency  they  encountered,  or  such,  as  soon  as  they  were  left  alone 
to  contend  against  trivial  troubles  of  tropic  life,  had  no  other  re¬ 
source  than  to  send  a  letter  of  resignation  to  their  chief  and  inconti¬ 
nently  throw  up  their  command  and  run  away  to  Europe — could  not 
be  trusted  with  so  responsible  command  in  so  important  an  enter¬ 
prise.  These  people  had  already  given  me  more  trouble  than  all  the 
African  tribes  put  together.  They  had  inspired  such  distrust  in  me 
that  I  would  rather  be  condemned  to  be  a  bootblack  all  my  life  than 
to  be  a  dry  nurse  to  beings  who  had  no  higher  claim  to  manhood 
than  that  externally  they  might  be  pretty  pictures  of  men.” 

“Unfledged  Europeans,  fresh  from  their  homes,  brimful  of  intol¬ 
erable  conceit,  and  indifferent  to  aught  else  save  what  submits  to 
their  own  prejudices,  are  not  as  a  rule  the  best  material  to  work  with 
for  the  civilization  of  the  African.” — Vol.  i,  p.  57. 

The  subjoined  confession,  Mr.  Stanley  says,  might  be  truthfully 
written  by  young  men  who  returned  home  after  finding  themselves 
incompetent  to  cope  with  the  life  and  work  of  Africa  ! 

“When  in  Europe  we  were  men  who  believed  ourselves  capable 
of  heroic  work  and  immense  effort,  could  we  but  have  the  opportu¬ 
nity  of  proving  oar  strength,  our  natural  wit,  our  native  valor,  our 
acquired  intelligence,  and  our  fortitude  under  privations;  but,  alas  ! 
when  we  landed  in  Africa  we  discovered  that  most  of  us  were  with¬ 
out  nerve,  without  wit  or  fortitude ;  that  our  strength  and  much  of  our 
native  valor  in  which  vve  had  prided  ourselves  had  vanished,  and  that 
our  acquired  intelligence  was  valueless ,  since  we  had  never  known  the 
practical  art  of  living  away  from  the  guardianship  and  sympathy  of 
our  parents,  and  when  privations  confronted  us  we  completely  col¬ 
lapsed.” — Vol.  2.  p.  238. 

In  the  labors  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  in  Liberia 
there  has  been  repeated  experience  of  this  nature,  even  among  col¬ 
ored  men  who  have  left  this  country,  having  excittd  the  highest  ex¬ 
pectations  of  their  usefulness.  Some  have  no  doubt  been  earnestand 
conscientious,  but  owing  to  a  lack  of  practical  experience  and  too 
great  confidence  in  their  “acquired  intelligence,”  they  have,  when 
confronted  with  the  new  circumstances  of  Africa,  “  completely  col¬ 
lapsed.”  Mr.  Stanley  continues  his  description  of  such  persons: 

“  Instead  of  meeting  the  usual  convenience  of  civilization,  which 
they  seem  to  nave  taken  for  granted  already  existed,  they  found 
themselves  confronted  and  repelled  by  the  task  of  preparing  these  for 
later  comers,  and  by  the  drudgery  and  toil  it  involved.  They  were 
quite  prepared  to  enjoy  the  labor  of  the  earliest  pioneers,  but  they 
were  extremely  loth  to  undertake  to  do  for  their  successors  what  they 


9 


had  inconsiderately  assumed  was  already  accomplished  for  them¬ 
selves.  In  the  presence  of  this  astonishing  revelation  I  began  to 
hear  words  and  phrases  that  sounded  strangely  to  me.  *  *  * 

These  were  amour  propre — self-love  ? ‘susceptibilities’ — vanity?  *  * 

*  Little  by  little  we  discovered  that  these  magnificent  men  not 
only  lacked  the  necessary  attainments,  but  were  also  most  poor  in  the 
spirit  of  endeavor.” — Vol.  2,  pp.  235 — 40, 

Mr.  Stanley’s  book  should  De  carefully  studied  by  all  who  con¬ 
template  laboring  in  Africa  or  co-operating  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan¬ 
tic  with  those  who  labor  there,  and  a  copy  should  be  in  the  library  of 
our  colored  educational  institutions. 

As  was  to  be  expected  from  men  who  find  themselves  confronted 
by  what  to  them  are  insurmountable  difficulties,  not  a  few  of  Mr. 
Stanley’s  disappointed  co-workers  have  not  only  left  Africa,  but  have 
denounced  and  continue  to  denounce  him  as  the  cause  of  their 
troubles  by  having  misrepresented  the  readty  to  them  before  they 
left  their  homes. 

Referring  to  the  recognition  by  the  United  States  government  of 
the  flag  of  the  International  African  A;>sociation,  in  1884,  and  to  the 
efforts  of  Gen.  Sanford  in  bringing  about  that  result,  Mr.  Stanley, 
who  has  often  visited  Liberia,  thus  speaks  of  the  young  republic — vol. 
2,  p.  382: 

“  The  American  people  had  evidently  forgotten  that  it  was 
through  the  philanthropy  of  their  fellow  citizens  that  the  free  State 
of  Liberia  had  been  founded,  to  the  establishment  of  which  they  had 
contributed  $2,558,987  of  their  money  to  create  homes  and  comforts 
for  the  18,000  free  Africans  they  dispatched  to  settle  there.  This 
State,  which  they  might  regard  with  hottest  pride  had  now  an  area 
of  14,300  square  miles  and  a  revenue  of  $100,000.  *  *  *  It  was 

an  act  well  worthy  of  the  great  Republic,  not  only  as  taking  the  lead 
in  publicly  recognizing  and  supporting  the  great  work  of  African  civ¬ 
ilization  in  history,  and  in  promoting  the  extension  of  commerce,  but 
of  significant  import  in  view  of  its  interest  for  the  future  weal  of  the 
seven  millions  people  of  African  descent  within  its  borders." 

EXPLORATIONS. 

Mr.  H .  H.  Johnston  has  returned  to  London  from  an  examination 
of  Mount  Kilimanjaro.  He  started  from  Mombasa,  and  passed 
some  time  in  Mantara’s  country,  which  he  reports  as  remarkably  fer¬ 
tile  and  well  watered.  After  leaving  Taveta  he  crossed  the  cultivated 
.zone,  which  ended  at  an  altitude  of  5,500  feet,  and  entered  a  district 
with  pleasant  grassy  knolls  and  many  streams  of  running  water, 


IO 


camping  beside  a  lovely  fern-cboked  brook  at  6.500  feet  high,  the 
whole  ascent  being  very  gradual.  The  river  Kilema,  which  takes  its 
source  near  the  base  of  Kimawanza.is  at  an  altitude  of  nearly  10,000 
feet.  Here  the  thermometer  descended  every  night  to  one  or  two 
degrees  below  freezing  point.  Proceeding  higher  up  the  mountain, 
over  grassy,  undulating  hillocks,  varied  with  patches  of  snow,  at  12,000 
feet,  Mr.  Johnson  struck  a  stream  flowing  in  a  south-southwest  direc¬ 
tion,  amid  thick  vegetation.  Beyond  13,000  feet  up  the  mountain  he 
discovered  that  the  water  was  warm,  the  temperature  of  the  tricking 
mud  being  91  degrees  Fahr.  Vegetables  only  grew  in  dwarfed 
patches,  and  the  ground  was  covered  with  boulders,  while  at  13.700 
feet  he  saw  the  last  resident  bird.  A  few  hundred  feet  higher  up  the 
mountain  was  enveloped  in  fog  ;  suddenly  the  clouds  parted,  and  he 
looked  upon  a  blaze  of  snow'  so  blinding  white  under  the  brief  flicker 
of  sunlight  that  tie  could  see  but  little  detail.  Pressing  forward  he 
at  last,  despite  mountain  sickness,  reached  the  chain  of  snow,  having 
attained  to  within  2,000  feet  of  the  summit,  which  is  estimated  to  be 
at  an  altitude  of  18,000  feet.  On  the  way  downwards  by  another 
route  Mr.  Johnston  again  passed  through  miles  of  well  watered, 
fruitful  country,  “singularly  English  in  appearance,’  which  was,  how¬ 
ever.  entirely  uninhabited  except  by  buffaloes  and  elephants.  The 
average  elevation  of  this  district  was  between  7,000  and  8,000  feet, 
the  temperature  ranging  from  43  degrees  at  night  to  75  degrees  at 
midday. 

Mr.  H.  E.  O’Neill,  British  consul  at  Mozambique,  thus  summa¬ 
rizes,  in  an  address  at  Edinburgh,  his  discoveries:  “The  chief  results 
have  been  to  open  up  three  new  routes  between  the  Nyassa  district 
and  the  east  coast:  1.  Between  Mozambique  and  lake  Shirwa  and 
Blantyre;  2,  from  Blantyre  to  the  Portuguese  settlements  of  Angoche 
and  Parapato;  3,  from  Quillimane  to  Blantyre.  The  Nyassa  may 
now  be  reached  by  the  longest  route  in  thirty  days,  and  by  that  from 
Quillimane  to  Blantyre  in  fourteen.  The  country  passed  over  is  well 
populated,  food  abundant  and  the  people  peaceable,  helpful  and  in¬ 
dustrious.  There  are  difficulties  of  course — African  tiavel  is  never 
without  them — but  any  or  all  of  the  three  routes  laid  down  may  be 
constantly  traversed  and  become  most  valuable  channels  for  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  trade  and  agriculture  of  the  country.”  Mr.  O’Neill 
claims  to  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  discover  three  minor  lakes 
— one,  lake  Lidedi,  just  south  of  the  Rovuma,  and  close  to  lake  Na- 
gardi,  of  which  Livingstone  first  heard  as  he  passed  north  of  that 
river  upon  his  last  travels.  The  others  are  lakes  Amaramba  and 
Chenta,  which  have  their  outlet  in  the  river  Lujenda.  “When  in  the 
neighborhood  of  these  lakes  I  closely  investigated  the  question  of  the 


supposed  connection  of  lake  Shirwa  with  the  Lujenda  drainage  sys¬ 
tem,  and  satisfied  myself  that  there  was  no  point  of  junction  between 
them.  Lake  Shirwa  is  divided  from  the  lakes  Chenta  and  Amaramba 
by  a  broad,  elevated  ridge  of  sandy  soil,  lightly  wooded  and  covered 
with  thick  undergrowth,  and  I  have  nowhere  detected  traces  of  inun¬ 
dation  or  evidence  of  the  rising  of  lake  Shirwa  above  the  level  of  its 
foot.  It  is  possible  that  a  subterranean  junction  exists,  and  this  view 
is  held  by  many  natives.” 

Rev.  George  Grenfell  reports  an  examination  made  by  him  of  the 
Mobangi  river,  which  enters  the  Congo  a  little  southwest  of  the 
point  where  the  great  river  crosses  the  equator.  The  Mobangi  comes 
from  a  region  which  is  now  a  blank  on  our  African  maps.  He  as¬ 
cended  the  river  over  three  hundred  miles,  finding  it  a  magnificent 
stream,  full  of  islands,  and  its  banks  more  densely  populated  than 
any  section  of  the  Congo  of  equal  extent.  Mr.  Grenfell  is  to  undertake 
a  further  exploration  to  determine  the  question  whether  the  Welli  be¬ 
longs  to  the  river  system  of  the  Chad  or  of  the  Congo. 

Lieut.  Giraud  has  given  an  account  at  Paris  of  his  attempt  to 
cross  tne  Continent,  having  explored  Uemba,  between  the  four  great 
lakes,  Nyassa,  Tanganyika,  Bangeweolo and  Moero.  This  district,  he 
declares,  is  the  most  powerful,  if  not  tne  richest,  he  traversed.  Reach¬ 
ing  the  Luapala,  he  arrived  at  the  capital  of  Mere  Mere.  Here  he  was 
deserted  by  his  porters,  and  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  carrying  out 
his  plan  compelled  him  to  return,  which  he  did  via  Nyassa  and  the 
Shire  and  Ouillimane,  reaching  Zanzibar  just  two  years  from  the  day 
on  which  he  started.  It  may  be  added  to  the  foregoing  that  Major 
Serpa  Pinto’s  expedition  to  the  interior  has  failed,  he  having  arrived 
at  Mozambique  after  a  sad  experience  of  fever.  He  proposes,  how¬ 
ever,  to  make  a  fresh  start  in  the  hope  of  reaching  the  region  which 
Lieut.  Giraud  visited. 

Lieut.  Weissman,  who  entered  at  St.  Paul  de  Loando  twenty 
months  ago,  has  arrived  at  Stanley  Pool,  having  traversed  a  large  ex¬ 
tent  of  territory.  He  represents  the  rivers  Lulna,  Sankaru,  Xassaia 
and  Lubilash,  instead  of  flowing  north,  all  turn  westward  and  unite 
in  one  stream,  which  bears  several  names,  but  which  it  is  safe  to  term 
the  Kassai.  This  stream  absorbs  the  Kwango,  and  still  tending  west, 
receives  the  waters  flowing  from  lake  Leopold,  and  then  empties  itself 
at  Kivamouth.  The  country  is  beautiful  and  the  people  friendly. 

Capt.  Capello  and  Commander  Ivens,  who  left  Mossamedes  in 
March,  1884,  at  the  expense  of  the  Portuguese  government  and  the 
Lisbon  Geographical  Society,  arrived  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in 
August.  Having  explored  the  affluents  of  the  Zambezi,  they  entered 
Gananganja,  in  the  heart  of  the  Continent.  The  country,  they  say,  i& 


prolific  in  minerals.  They  then  went  to  the  Zambezi  river,  having 
traveled  a  distance  of  4,200  miles  in  about  sixteen  months.  The  in¬ 
habitants  of  that  hitherto  unknown  part  are  described  by  Capt.  Ca- 
pello  as  warlike,  but  his  party  met  with  no  serious  opposition  In 
some  cases  they  were  treated  with  marked  kindness.  The  two  ex¬ 
plorers  started  again  for  Mossamedes  with  the  intention  of  returning 
to  Europe  by  way  of  the  Congo. 

Dr.  Aurel  Schulz  has  returned  to  Berlin  from  a  journey  made  from 
Natal  to  the  interior,  including  an  examination  of  the  Victoria  Falls. 
He  says  the  whole  river  Zambezi  rushes  over  a  cleft  in  the  rocks  four 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  but  owing  to  the  cloud  of  vapor  al¬ 
ways  rising  from  the  bottom,  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  clear  view  of 
the  falls.  A  short  distance  below  a  splendid  sight  was  obtained  of 
the  “  Devil's  Kettle,”  another  fall  quite  equal  in  beauty,  if  not  in  size, 
to  the  other.  Near  here  the  doctor  engaged  a  Dutch  hunter  to  guide 
him  to  Matambanje,  and  he  then  struck  across  the  country  to  Lin- 
yanti.  It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  our  explorer  reached  Matam¬ 
banje,  which  he  represents  as  six  hundred  miles  from  the  Atlantic 
seaboard. 

Intelligence  has  been  received  of  the  movements  making  on  the 
Congo  by  the  employers  Junckee  and  Casati,  and  that  the  Portugese 
commercial  expedition  to  Manica,  under  Capt.  Paiva  Andraide,  is 
making  satisfactory  progress. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Liberia  has  produced  more  explor¬ 
ers  of  Africa,  educated  on  the  spot,  than  any  European  colony  on  the 
coast.  James  L.  Sims  spoke  the  Vey  language.  Benjamin  Anderson, 
who  has  twice  performed  the  journey  to  Musardu,  wrote  a  book  whi<  h 
was  so  appreciated  by  Sir  Roderick  Murchison,  president  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  at  the  time  of  its  publication,  that  he  gave  it  a 
place  in  the  library  by  the  side  of  the  works  of  Park,  Denham  and 
Clapperton.  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  IV.  Blyden,  the  only  Negro  ever  en¬ 
trusted  by  the  British  government  at  Sierra  Leone  to  explore  the  in¬ 
terior  and  make  treaties  with  powerful  chiefs,  was  sent  to  Liberia  un¬ 
der  the  auspices  of  the  American  Colonization  Society. 

This  is  the  programme  of  the  next  expedition  to  leave  England 
at  the  expense  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  commanded  by  J. 
T.  Last,  who.  as  a  lay  agent  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  has 
done  admirable  work  in  the  Zanzibar  interior.  Mr.  Last,  after  mak¬ 
ing  up  his  caravan  at  Zanzibar,  will  proceed  south  to  Lindi,  to  the 
north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Rovume  and  Lugende  rivers,  and  fix  the 
longitude  of  the  junction — an  important  geographical  point  not  yet 
settled.  He  will  then  go  on  in  a  generally  southwestern  direction,  and 
before  reaching  the  north  end  of  lake  Shirwa  turn  southwards  and 


13 


make  for  the  Namulli  Hills,  which,  with  other  features  in  this  region, 
were  discovered  by  Consul  O’Neill,  in  1883.  Here  Mr.  Last  will  es¬ 
tablish  himself  and  make  a  detailed  study  of  the  whole  region  in  all 
its  aspects,  including  a  complete  survey  of  the  surrounding  country, 
its  topography,  people,  botany,  economic  products,  climate  and  lan¬ 
guages.  When  thi;  is  completed  Mr.  Last  will  enter  the  valley  of  the 
Likuga  river,  which  rises  in  the  neighborhood  of  these  hills,  and  fol¬ 
low  it  down  to  the  coast  of  Quizungu,  whence  he  will  travel  south  to 
Ouillimane  or  north  to  Angoche,  and  thence  to  Mozambique. 

Mr.  Joseph  Thomson  has  returned  to  London,  having  accom¬ 
plished  the  mission  with  which  he  was  entrusted  by  the  African 
Trading  Company.  He  is  stated  to  have  made  treaties  with  the  Sul¬ 
tans  of  Gando  and  Sokotu  which  give  the  company  commercial  com¬ 
mand  of  the  Niger  almost  to  Timbuctoo,  and  of  the  Binue,  its  prin¬ 
cipal  tributary,  to  the  limits  of  navigation.  The  Academy  of  Sciences 
of  Berlin  have  intrusted  Dr.  Schweinfurth  with  a  mission  to  Central 
Africa.  Dr.  Herr  W.  Flegel  is  to  ascend  the  Niger  to  the  Binue, 
when  he  will  proceed  up  the  latter  and  then  southward,  in  the  inter, 
ests  of  German  commerce.  Dr.  Oscar  Lenz  is  preparing  to  explore 
the  watershed  between  the  Nile  and  the  Congo.  Two  expeditions 
are  reported  to  be  bound  for  Umzilla’s  Kraal.  The  first  is  a  special 
commission  dispatched  by  the  Portuguese  government,  which  landed 
at  Chihian,  went  across  to  Sofaia,  and  so  inland.  Its  object  is  not 
clearly  defined.  The  other  expedition,  led  by  a  Major  of  the  Portu¬ 
guese  artillery,  is  connected  with  the“Ophir  Company,”  which  was 
incorporated  at  Lisbon  last  year.  Its  object  is  to  obtain  permission 
to  open  anew  the  celebrated  ancient  mines  of  Manika. 

Capt.  Ce’cchi  has  been  dispatched  by  the  Italian  government  to 
Africa  for  the  purposes  of  exploration.  He  is  the  author  of  a  gram¬ 
mar  and  dictionary  of  the  languages  spoken  by  the  Galla,  Kafla,  So¬ 
mali  and  Afar  tribes,  soon  to  be  published  by  the  Italian  Geographical 
Society.  Lieut.  Massari  has  begun  the  scientific  exploration  of  the 
Quango,  from  Konamouth  to  its  junction  with  the  Congo. 

RAILROADS. 

The  project  of  making  a  railway  from  the  Congo  estuary  to  Stan¬ 
ley  Pool  is  attracting  the  attention  of  financiers  and  others.  The 
government  at  Cape  Colony  is  enlarging  its  political  and  commercial 
influei  ce  northward  by  interior  railroad  routes.  Four  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  pounds  (^400,000)  have  been  appropriated  by  the  British  govern¬ 
ment  for  constructing  a  railway  from  Cape  Town  to  Kimberley. 

CABLES. 

It  is  announced  that  the  British  government  has  guaranteed  a 
subsidy  to  a  contractor  who  is  preparing  to  lay  a  cable  between  St. 


H 


Vincent  and  the  chief  places  on  the  west  and  south  coasts  of  Africa 
to  Cape  Town.  The  steamship  Silverthorn  sailed  October  io  with 
the  first  portion  of  a  cable  which  the  India  Rubber,  Gutta  Percha 
and  Telegraph  Works  Company  (limited)  have  contracted  with  the 
Portuguese  government  to  lay  along  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  touch¬ 
ing  chiefly  at  Portuguese  settlements.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Sil¬ 
verthorn  at  St.  Thiago  the  cable  is  to  be  connected  with  the  existing 
line  from  Lisbon,  touching  at  St.  Vincent,  from  which  latter  place  tel¬ 
egraphic  communication  is  already  established  with  St.  Thiago.  An 
alternative  line  has  already  been  laid  from  Cadiz  through  the  Canary 
Isles  to  St.  Louis,  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  and  from  the  latter 
place  a  cable  will  be  laid  to  Bathurst,  223  miles  further  south,  where 
it  will  be  joined  by  the  cable  now  to  be  laid  from  St.  Thiago.  The 
new  cable  now  connected  at  Bathurst  with  Europe  by  two  different 
lines  will  then  be  laid  for  a  distance  of  573  miles  to  Sierra  Leone 
while  subsidiary  cables  will  be  laid  along  the  coast,  touching  at 
Bissao,  Bullama,  Rio  Nunez  and  Sierra  Leone,  thus  again  giving  du¬ 
plicate  communications  with  Europe.  From  Sierra  Leone  the  main 
cable  will  belaid  to  Accra,  a  distance  of  1,186  miles.  It  is  intended 
to  continue  the  cable  from  Accra  to  the  Cameroons,  and  through  St. 
Thomas  to  St.  Paul  de  Loando,  south  of  the  Congo,  with  which  place 
communication  will  also  be  established.  This  finishes  the  immediate 
work  in  hand,  but  a  further  contract  has  already  been  entered  into  to 
prolong  the  cable  from  St.  Paul  de  Loando  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  this  additional  cable  is  now  in  process  of  manufacture.  The 
latter  line  will  touch  at  Nova,  Redona,  Benguela,  Mossamedes,  Wal- 
fish  Bay,  Port  Nolluth  and  Cape  Town.  On  the  completion  of  the 
work  the  cables  will  be  handed  over  to  the  West  African  Telegraph 
Company,  who  will  carry  out  the  undertaking. 

GOLD  AND  DIAMONDS. 

Gold  mining  in  West  Africa  has  not  succeeded.  The  gold  is 
there,  but  lack  of  capital  and  transportation  have  contributed  to  the 
ill-fortune  that  has  attended  these  enterprises,  and  even  the  best  have 
had  to  contend  with  difficulties  of  climate  and  labor.  There  seems 
no  end  to  the  new  discoveries  of  gold  in  South  Africa.  Information 
from  the  Transvaal  is  to  the  effect  that  a  paying  reef,  yielding  one 
and  one-half  ounces  to  the  ton,  has  been  found  in  Matabeleland,  and 
that  a  concesi  ion  to  work  it  has  been  granted  by  Lobengolo,  chief  of 
the  Matabele  natives,  to  a  company  which  has  started  working  with 
small  plants  of  steam  crushing  machinery,  through  the  use  of  which 
twelve  bars  of  solid  gold  weighing  one  pound  apiece  have  been  se¬ 
cured  from  the  first  trial  crushing.  Rejoicings  have  taken  place  at 


'5 


Pretoria  and  Appolonia  owing  to  a  display  of  gold  discovered  close 
to  those  places.  Persevering  men  with  good  health,  and  who  have 
capital,  crushing  machinery  and  a  supply  of  provisions  for  six  months, 
stand  a  fair  chance  of  becoming  wealthy  in  time. 

South  Africa  enjoys  a  virtual  monopoly  of  the  diamond  market 
of  the  world.  A  diamond  has  recently  been  found  there  weigh¬ 
ing  475  carats,  said  to  be  greatly  superior  in  color  and  brilliancy 
to  all  the  other  famous  diamonds  known.  Another  large  diamond 
from  the  De  Beer  mine  weighs  128  carats  in  its  rough  state,  and  is  of 
perfect  octahedron  shape.  It  is  about  an  inch  through  in  its  long¬ 
est  and  deepest  parts,  and  in  its  present  state  is  valued  at  about  fifteen 
thousand  pounds,  but  when  cut  the  pi  ice  will  be  very  much  more.  It 
is  considered  one  of  the  most  famous  gems  of  the  world,  and  is  called 
“The  President.”  A  letter  from  Kimberley  represents  that  no  less 
than  $5,000,000  is  annually  paid  in  that  town  alone  in  wages  for  dia¬ 
mond  digging.  And  from  this  oasis  in  the  agricultural  desert  has 
been  sent  in  the  last  fifteen  years  something  like  $200,000,000  worth  of 
diamonds  in  the  rough,  which,  with  the  cost  of  cutting,  setting  and 
selling,  must  have  taken  from  consumers  a  sum  not  far  short  of 
$500,000,000. 

TRADE. 

Though  the  commerce  of  Africa,  in  common  with  every  branch 
of  trade  all  over  the  world,  is  passing  through  a  period  of  almost  un¬ 
paralleled  depression,  there  are  not  wanting  indications  that  a  revival 
of  traffic  is  near  at  hand.  The  prospectus  of  the  British  Congo  Com¬ 
pany  (limited)  is  published  at  Manchester  witu  a  capital  of  ^500.000, 
divided  into  shares  of  ^5  each.  Last  year  the  imports  into  the  Congo 
district  are  stated  to  have  amounted  to  ^888,000,  and  the  exports  to 
some  £ 2,000,000 ,  so  that  in  round  numbers  the  trade  may  be  roughly 
estimated  at  nearly  ^3,000,000  annually.  The  West  African  Trading 
Company  (limited)  has  been  formed  with  a  capital  of  ^250,000,  in  25,- 
000  shares  of  ^10  each.  The  National  African  Company  declared 
June  30  a  dividend  at  the  rate  of  10  per  cent,  per  annum.  The  Cam- 
eroons  Agricultural  and  Plantation  Company,  and  the  East  African 
Company  are  organizations  of  mercantile,  manufacturing  and  banking 
firms  at  Hambuig  for  the  development  of  Africa.  The  German  Co¬ 
lonial  Society  of  Berlin  has  announced  its  intention  of  forthwith 
founding  stations  on  the  upper  Binue,  and  a  preliminary  sum  of  £7, 
500  has  been  appropriated  for  the  undertaking. 

The  steam  shipping  interest  at  the  present  time  is  in  a  depressed 
state.  The  African  Steamship  Company,  at  the  late  meeting  of  the 
directors,  declared  that  not  only  were  they  unprepared  to  pay  a  divi- 


i6 


dend,  but  they  were  unable  to  write  off  any  depreciation.  The  Ger¬ 
mans  have  established  a  monthly  line  of  steamers  between  Hamburg 
and  the  West  African  coast.  Under  arrangements  with  the  Portu¬ 
guese  government  and  the  International  Association,  the  council  of 
the  Castle  Mail  Packets  Company  (limited)  have  a  direct  mail  service 
between  Europe,  the  Congo  and  the  Portuguese  possessions  in  Africa. 
Southampton  will  be  the  port  of  departure  and  arrival  in  England,, 
and  the  steamers  will  proceed  from  the  Congo  to  St.  Paul  de  Loando 
and  Mossamedes,  and  thence  to  Algoa  Bay,  Natal  and  Delagoa  Bay. 

English  enterprise  will  soon  supply  a  want  long  felt  in  West  Af_ 
rica,  viz.,  an  investing  and  commercial  bank,  a  company  having  been 
formed  with  a  capital  of  ,£1,000,000  sterling.  The  head  office  will 
be  in  Liverpool,  with  branches  at  Lagos,  Sieira  Leone  and  Cape  Coast. 

Lieut.  Albert  G.  S.  Hawes  has  been  appointed  British  consul  in 
the  territories  of  the  kings  and  chiefs  of  the  districts  adjacent  to  lake 
Nyassa.  The  newly  appointed  German  Imperial  commissioner  for 
Angra  Pequena,  Justice  Goring,  is  to  journey  via  Cape  Town  to  An- 
gra  Pequena,  in  order  to  visit  the  interior  of  that  possession,  being 
accompanied  by  Referendary  Nels  and  an  under  officer  of  the  Guards 
Regiment  at  Berlin.  Herr  Schmidt  has  left  Berlin  for  the  Came- 
roons,  there  to  act  as  German  consul. 

The  British  exports  to  West  Africa  are  thus  given:  Total  exports 
for  ten  years,  1853-62— British  possessions,  ,£3,731,888;  foreign  and  na¬ 
tive  territory,  ,£10,1 58,665;  total,  ,£13.890,553.  Ten  years,  1863-1872 — 
British  possessions,  ,£6,371,905;  foreign  and  native  territory,  ,£10,110,- 
568;  total,  £  1 6,482, 4.73.  Ten  years.  1873-82 — British  possessions,  ,£8,- 
557,883;  foreign  and  native  territory,  ,£12,917,220;  total,  ,£21,475,103. 
Total  exports  to  British  West  African  possessions  for  1883 — Gold 
Coast  and  Lagos,  ,£510, 213;  Gambia  and  Sierra  Leone,  ,£415,801;  total, 
,£926, 014.  This  is  made  up  as  follows:  cotton  goods,  ,£560,451;  other 
British  goods,  ,£295,035.  Tobacco,  spirits  and  other  foreign  goods  ex¬ 
ported  is  very  nearly  double  as  much  as  all  other  articles  put  to¬ 
gether. 

Too  long  the  vast  material  advantages  to  be  derived  by  this 
country  from  a  proper  cultivation  of  the  opportunities  offered  in  Af¬ 
rica  for  commerce  and  colonization  have  been  neglected.  The  wealth 
of  the  Continent  is  as  extensive  and  varied  as  it  is  undeveloped, while 
the  fact  that  these  latent  riches  lie  within  a  comparative  short  dis¬ 
tance  of  our  own  shores  should  have  the  effect  of  exciting  a  far  greater 
amount  of  attention  in  the  minds  of  capitalists  in  the  United  States 
than  has  hitherto  been  the  case.  The  vast  commercial  resources  of 
the  region  south  of  the  Upper  Niger  are  accumulated  in  large  towns 
not  far  beyond  the  eastern  boundary  of  Liberia,  from  which  they  are 


1 7 


diverted  to  Sierra  Leone  and  elsewhere  to  the  north.  It  would  be  a 
comparatively  easy  matter  to  bring  this  traffic  to  its  natural  channel. 
If  American  capital  could  be  introduced  into  Liberia,  which  the  Libe¬ 
rians  prefer,  the  traffic  at  the  populous  towns,  Medina,  Musardu  and 
Boporo,  would  leadily  increase  till  the  laborious  and  expensive  jour¬ 
ney  to  Sierra  Leone  would  be  exchanged  by  the  Mandinga  traders 
for  the  easy  and  cheap  one  to  Liberia. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  dispatched  expeditions 
to  the  Arctic  regions,  the  Dead  Sea,  Japan  and  South  America  for 
scientific  and  commercial  purposes.  Why  not  send  a  party  to  explore 
West  Africa,  from  Monrovia  to  the  Niger,  to  secure  its  productive  re¬ 
sources?  A  naval  officer  of  high  rank,  and  who  has  won  distinction 
by  his  successful  efforts  to  extend  American  commerce,  has  volun¬ 
teered  his  valuable  services  to  lead  in  so  important  a  survey.  An  ap¬ 
propriation  by  Congress  of  $25,000,  to  be  expended  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  should  be  made  in  this  behalf.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  can  claim  Liberia  alone  as  their  part  of 
Africa. 

THE  SOUDAN. 

The  capture  of  Khartoum  and  massacre  of  the  heroic  and  no  less 
heroic  Christian  General  Gordon,  the  death  of  El  Mahdi  and  the 
evacuation  of  Soudan  by  the  British  troops  under  Sir  Garnet  Wolse* 
ley,  have  followed  each  other  in  rapid  succession.  The  literal  meaning 
of  the  word  Mahdi  is  he  who  is  led.  It  is  an  epithet  which  maybe 
applied  to  any  prophet,  or  even  to  any  ordinary  person,  but  used  as  a 
proper  name  it  signifies  one  who  is  beyond  all  others,  “well  guided,” 
Heaven  directed,  sent  of  God  to  be  a  leader  of  His  people.  According 
to  the  Mohammedan  idea,  the  true  Mahdi  will  outrank  all  other  pro¬ 
phets  and  divine  messengers  that  have  appeared.  He  will  come  to 
earth  to  accomplish  the  last  things,  to  convert  Christians  and  idola- 
tors  to  Islamism  and  lead  the  faithful  in  triumph  at  the  judgment 
day.  Mohammed  Ahmed  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  force  of  charac¬ 
ter,  and  probably  a  believer  in  his  own  appointed  mission.  His 
proclamations  and  other  writings  that  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  ene¬ 
mies  showed  him  to  be  a  man  of  intelligence  and  shrewdness.  He 
evidently  knew  how  to  gain  an  ascendancy  over  the  minds  of  the  ig¬ 
norant  and  fanatical,  and  how  to  hold  it.  His  death  will  doubtless 
end  the  revolt  in  the  Soudan  for  the  present,  or  until  another  Mahdi 
shall  appear. 

ENSLAVEMENTS. 

Rev.  David  D.  Day,  Superintendent  of  Lutheran  Missions  in 
West  Africa,  writes:  “  The  vilest  liquors  imaginable  are  being  poured 
into  Africa  in  shiploads  from  almost  every  quarter  of  the  civilized 


i8 


World.  On  one  small  vessel,  in  which  myself  and  wife  were  the  only 
passengers,  there  were  in  the  hold  over  100,000  gallons  of  New  En¬ 
gland  rum,  which  sold  on  this  coast  for  one  dollar  a  gallon  in  ex¬ 
change  for  palm  oil,  rubber,  camwood  and  other  produce  common  to 
the  country.  I  have  seen  landed  from  one  steamer  at  a  single  port 
10,000 cases  of  gin,  each  containing  twelve  three-pint  bottles,  andthis 
was  but  a  drop  in  the  mighty  inflowing  tide.  At  another  time  7,000 
cases  were  landed  on  a  Sabbath  morning.  Almost  every  ship  comes 
loaded  with  vast  quantities  of  intoxicants,  so  that  the  devastating, 
flood  now  rolling  interiorward  is  something  awful  to  contemplate. 
All  along  the  coast  are  scattered  trading  stations,  the  bulk  of  their 
business  being  liquor.  From  three  to  four  thousand  cases  of  gin  and 
fifteen  hundred  demijohns  of  rum  is  an  average  monthly  sale  for  a 
store  of  any  pretensions.” 

Herr  Bublitz  contributes  to  the  Reichsa7izeiger  an  article  entitled 
“  Bilder  aus  Kamerun,”  wherein  he  says  that  immense  quantities  of 
spirits,  in  great  part  of  the  worst,  and  indeed  of  a  poisonous  quality, 
are  introduced  into  the  Cameroons.  The  pernicious  effect  of  these 
liquors  on  the  population  is  manifest,  more  so  physically.  Rev.  A. 
Mabile  says:  “  Brandy  is  being  literally  poured  into  South  Africa. 
Surely  the  British  government  cannot  know  what  is  going  on  and  the 
ruin  that  is  staring  us  in  the  face,  or  something  would  be  done  to  help 
us.  Oh,  cannot  England  save  these  poor  people  from  these  unprinci¬ 
pled  men,  who  are  doing  their  utmost  to  destroy  the  good  which  the 
Gospel  has  done  to  the  Basutos?  All  the  chiefs  have  become 
drunkards,  with  one  or  two  exceptions.  How  and  where  will  it  all 
end  ?” 

What  an  unmitigated  disgrace  to  Christian  lands  that,  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  all  the  misery  they  have  brought  upon  Africa  in  past  genera¬ 
tions  by  aiding  the  slave  trade,  they  should  now  help  to  still  further 
destroy  her  people  by  making  them  slaves  of  appetite  ! 

The  volume  recently  issued  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Anti-Sla¬ 
very  Society,  containing  the  proceedings  of  the  Society  at  its  two  ju¬ 
bilee  meetings,  brings  freshly  to  view  the  fact  that  the  slave  trade  in 
Africa  has  by  no  means  been  suppressed.  It  is  an  occasion  for  grati¬ 
tude  that  so  many  able  and  prominent  Englishmen  of  all  shades  of 
political  and  religious  opinion,  should  have  met  together  to  reaffirm 
their  hostility  to  the  nefarious  traffic,  and  their  purpose  to  oppose  it 
in  all  practicable  ways.  A  telegram  from  Zanzibar  states  that  2,000 
rescued  slaves  have  just  been  handed  by  the  British  authorities  to  the 
Church  missionary  at  Frere  Town.  Arab  dhows  are  continually 
crossing  the  Red  sea,  laden  with  slaves.  Mr.  Stanley  reports  that  on 
his  recent  tour  along  the  upper  Congo  he  discovered  a  camp  of  2,309 


l9 


slaves,  principally  women  and  children,  and  that  this  supply  had  been 
secured  by  the  burning  of  1 1 8  villages  and  the  devastation  of  43  dis¬ 
tricts.  The  Rev.  Chauncey  Maples  declares  that  during  a  residence 
of  six  years  he  has  never  taken  a  journey  of  seventy  miles  from  Ma- 
sasi  without  coming  across  a  caravan  of  slaves.  One  of  these  cara¬ 
vans  numbered  2,000. 

EUROPEAN  MISSIONS. 

Missionary  stations  of  American  and  European  societies  very 
nearly  encompass  Africa  from  Sierra  Leone  to  Liberia,  Gaboon,  Bengu- 
ela,  and  Cape  Town,  and  thence  to  Natal,  Zanzibar,  Mombas,  Abyssinia 
and  Egypt;  The  videttes  of  this  grand,  united  army  have  reached  the 
African  lake  region,  the  banks  of  the  Zambezi  and  the  Niger  and  the 
basin  of  the  Congo.  The  missions  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety  on  the  west  coast  are  reported  to  be  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
and  there  is  a  general  desire  to  extend  the  work  into  the  interior.  The 
Gambia  station  has  long  had  stations  as  far  up  the  Gambia  river  as 
McCarthy’s  Island,  250  miles,  but  the  lack  of  native  preachers  has 
been  a  hindrance  to  further  advance.  At  Sierra  Leone  there  is  the 
same  difficulty,  but  orf  the  Gold  Coast  and  at  Lagos  “we  have  taken 
hold  of  heathenism,”  writes  the  Rev.  John  Milurn,  “with  a  mighty 
grip.  Here  we  have  a  native  ministry  that  any  Church  might  be  proud 
of — earnest,  pious,  patriotic,  loyal  Methodist  preachers — willing  to  go 
where  they  are  sent  by  the  Church,  and  to  make  a  sacrifice  if  need  be.’’ 
The  last  report  of  the  Gold  Coast,  Yoruba  and  Popo  districts  give 
59  chapels,  268  other  preaching  places,  24  missionaries,  English  and 
native,  287  local  preachers,  6,7 16  church  members,  while  there  are  20,- 
075  attendants  at  public  worship. 

The  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Sierra  Leone  observes,  in  a  sketch  of 
progress  in  his  jurisdiction,  that  the  Church  is  now  almost  self-sup¬ 
porting.  There  are  thirteen  parishes  in  charge  of  native  pastors 
From  £2,000  to  ,£3,000  are  annually  raised  for  evangelical  purposes. 
There  is  a  college  for  training  native  clergy,  and  a  grammar  school  at 
Freetown,  as  well  as  a  female  educational  institute.  Lagos,  the  fur¬ 
thest  section  of  the  commission  is  1,000  miles  from  Sierra  Leone. 
When  the  Church  Missionary  Society  went  there,  twenty-five  years 
ago,  Lagos  was  a  principal  slave  market.  Its  district  now  contains 
seven  churches,  thiee  of  them  in  charge  of  native  pastors. 

The  Baptist  mission  at  the  Carneroons  has  been  seriously  inter¬ 
fered  with  as  the  result  of  the  annexation  of  this  region  by  Germany. 
It  seems  that  King  Bell,  chief  of  Bell  Town,  ceded  not  only  his  own 
territory,  but  that  of  another  chief,  Joss.  The  latter  refused  to  regard 
the  transaction  as  valid.  A  petty  warfare  followed  between  these  na¬ 
tive  chiefs  and  their  adherents,  when  two  German  men-of-war  arrived 


at  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  forcibly  interfered  in  the  conflict.  In 
the  bombardment  Bell  Town  and  Hickory  Town  were  burned,  includ¬ 
ing  the  mission  premises.  Along  the  river  for  many  miles  there  is  not 
a  single  house  standing.  The  people  having  been  proclaimed  rebels, 
it  is  not  probable  that  they  will  settle  there  again,  and  this  prosperous 
mission,  founded  nearly  forty  years  ago  by  the  famous  missionary, 
Rev.  Alfred  Saker,  has  received  a  stunning,  if  not  a  fatal  blow. 

A  valedictory  service  in  connection  with  the  departure  of  six 
missionaries,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society 
for  the  Congo,  was  held  August  17,  in  Camden  Road  Chapel, 
London.  Mr.  W.  C.  Parkinson,  who  presided,  said  that  it  was  im¬ 
possible  for  any  one  to  adequately  describe  the  possibilities  and  ex¬ 
tent  of  the  work  to  which  they  had  now  set  their  hands.  It  was 
opening  out  day  by  day.  The  Livingstonian  mission  of  the  Scotch 
Free  Church,  on  lake  Nyassa,  is  having  continued  prosperity.  In 
one  of  the  schools  over  one  hundred  scholars  are  gathered;  a  dozen 
are  reading  in  the  first  reader,  and  a  class  of  eight  boys  is  reading  in 
John’s  Gospel.  The  language  is  the  Chinyanja.  In  a  school  taught 
by  a  native  teacher  thirty-eight  were  present.  On  one  Sunday  it  was 
estimated  that  eight  hundred  were  present  at  worship.  The  Univer¬ 
sities  mission  has  thirty-five  native  evangelists,  formerly  slaves.  The 
released  slaves  had  printed  at  their  printing  office  the  whole  of  the 
New  Testament  and  a  larger  part  of  the  Old,  in  the  Swahili  language, 
understood  through  the  interior. 

Bishop  Hannington,  with  Messrs.  Hanford  and  Wray,  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  with  the  view  of  opening  a  mission,  have 
recently  visited  the  country  called  the  “  Switzerland  of  Africa,”  the 
chief  feature  of  which  is  the  lofty  Mount  Kilimanjaro,  rising  some 
18,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  covered  with  perpetual 
snow,  though  only  three  degrees  south  of  the  equator.  This  region 
lies  aboutjtwo  hundred  and  fifty  miles  northwest  from  Mombasa,  and 
through  it  runs  the  natural  road  to  the  Victoria  Nyanza.  Travellers 
unite  in  describing  the  scene  as  marvelously  lovely,  uniting  the  lux¬ 
uriance  of  the  tropics  with  the  grandeur  of  Switzerland.  The  beau¬ 
tiful  vale  of  Taveta  is  spoken  of  as  a  “  very  Arcadian  bower  of  bliss.’’ 
Lying  some  2,400  feet  above  the  sea,  seven  miles  in  length  by  one  in 
breadth,  irrigated  with  cool  waters  from  the  melting  snows  on  the 
mountains,  richly  cultivated,  surrounded  by  gigantic  forest  trees, 
rising  eighty  to  one  hundred  feet  before  branching  into  a  luxurious 
canopy,  with  a  profusion  of  ferns  and  flowering  shrubs  of  every  hue  in 
the  intervals,  this  valley  is  a  very  “  forest  haven  of  refuge.”  It  is  en¬ 
tered  through  a  narrow  defile,  across  which  are  thrown  thick  barriers 
of  wood,  forming  an  impenetrable  defense,  zealously  guarded,  with  a 


single  opening  for  a  gate.  The  inhabitants  form  a  Republic,  are  of 
mixed  origin,  are  diligent  agriculturists,  raising  in  their  fertile  and 
carefully  irrigated  soil  banana  groves,  sugar  cane,  sweet  potatoes, 
yams,  and  every  variety  of  tropical  vegetables,  while  also  they  are 
great  bee-masters,  with  fat  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats.  They  are 
described  as  honest,  industrious,  hospitable,  manly,  and  courteous, 
though  grossly  superstitious.  West  of  Taveta  are  the  highlands  of 
Chagga,  comprising  the  whole  habitable  region  along  the  south  and 
southeast  slope  of  Kilimanjaro.  Not  a  month  passes  without  rain,  and 
the  fertile  country  shows  everywhere  the  signs  of  most  luxuriant  culti¬ 
vation,  as  rich  as  that  of  Taveta,  with  the  advantage  of  a  delightful  in¬ 
terchange  of  mountain,  forest  and  plain.  The  principal  chief  in  this 
locality  is  a  pleasing  specimen  of  African  royalty,  powerfully  built,  of 
princely  bearing,  with  a  pleasant,  intellectual  face,  and  affable  and 
courteous  in  his  intercourse  with  travellers. 

On  Sunday,  April  5,  forty  additional  Roman  Catholic  missiona¬ 
ries  for  Africa  received  their  dismissal  in  the  cathedral  of  Algiers. 
They  were  under  the  leadership  of  Mgr.  Lirinhac,  Bishop  of  Pacendo, 
Vicar  Apostolic  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza,  and  Mgr.  Carbonier,  Vicar 
Apostolic  of  lake  Tanganyika.  These  missionaries  are  intended  for 
the  four  Apostolic  vicariates  into  which  Equatorial  Africa  has  lately 
been  divided  by  the  Roman  pontiff.  The  party  consists  of  lay  broth¬ 
ers  and  ordained  fathers.  The  la.tter  have  been  trained  in 
the  seminary  at  Algiers.  They  belong  to  a  special  religious  order, 
with  a  peculiar  semi-oriental  dress,  of  which  the  native  red  cap  is  a 
conspicuous  feature. 

Steamers  are  running  in  the  waters  of  Africa  on  the  errands  of 
the  Gospel.  The  Henry  Wright  is  in  use  at  Zanzibar  and  Mombas  ; 
the  Illala  is  navigating  the  Nyanza  ;  the  Eleanor  is  en¬ 
gaged  on  the  Victoria  Nyanza;  the  Good  News  is  raising  steam 
on  the  Tanganyika,  and  the  Henry  Reed  and  Peace  have  made  their 
first  trip  on  the  Congo,  above  Stanley  Falls.  The  Charles  Jansen  is  un¬ 
der  construction  for  the  Nyanza,  and  the  Henry  Venn  has  been  com¬ 
pleted  at  a  cost  of  $30,000  for  voyaging  on  the  Niger.  She  is  intended 
to  replace  one  of  that  name  irreparably  damaged  after  rendering  valu¬ 
able  service. 

There  seems  to  be  no  longer  doubt  of  the  deaths  of  the  monarchs 
Mtese,  of  Mirambo,  and  of  Umzila.  Mr.  Stanley  has  characterized 
Mtese  as  the  most  remarkable  man  in  all  Central  Africa,  and  this  is 
saying  more  than  at  first  appears,  as  there  are  and  have  been  several 
who  might  claim  great  honor.  Mirambo,  whose  realm  is  south  of  the 
Victoria  Nyanza,  would  be  a  statesman  if  he  had  proper  “environ¬ 
ments.” 


AMERICAN  MISSIONS. 


The  African  mission  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  nearly 
half  a  century  old,  and  has  a  total  of  425  communicants.  Eighty- 
six  missionaries  from  the  United  States  have  labored  in  it,  of  whom 
twenty-eight  died  in  the  field,  and  it  has  had,  including  the  present 
incumbent,  four  Bishops.  The  new  Bishop  is  a  product  of  the  mission. 
The  mission  is  divided  into  three  districts — Cape  Palmas,  which 
gives  name  to  the  diocese  ;  Sinou  and  Bassa,  and  Monrovia  and  Cape 
Mount.  Of  the  425  communicants  247  are  classed  as  Liberians,  177 
as  native  and  1  as  American.  Three  stations  in  the  Cape  Palmas  dis¬ 
trict,  two  of  which  are  purely  native,  contain  221  communicants,  of 
whom  more  than  half  are  Greboes.  The  Lutheran  mission,  on  the 
St.  Paul’s  river,  Rev.  David  A.  Day,  superintendent,  is  making  grati- 
fying  progress.  Rev.  D.  Davidson,  native,  was  ordained  and  has  be¬ 
come  pastor  of  the  first  self-sustaining  church  at  Muhlenburg.  This 
is  an  industrial  mission,  coffee  planting  having  become  helpful  toward 
support.  Missionaries  of  the  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Convention, 
(colored,)  have  established  a  station  at  Cape  Mount,  Liberia,  among 
the  Veys.  They  find  the  youth  quick  and  intelligent,  and  report  sur¬ 
prising  progress  in  conversions. 

Although  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  French  Government  at 
the  Gaboon  and  on  the  Ogove  have  filled  the  path  of  the  missiona¬ 
ries  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  with  hindrances,  there  have  been 
scenes  of  hopeful  labor,  ana  visible  fruits  have  arisen.  The  French 
authorities  at  the  Gaboon,  bent  on  Gallicanizing  their  colony,  have 
insisted  on  having  all  schools  conducted  in  the  French  language.  This 
requisition,  if  it  cannot  be  changed,  may  put  an  end  to  the  schools.  It 
is  hoped  that  France  will  at  least  permit  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  natives  of  French  Africa  in  the  vernacular  and  the  maintain- 
ance  of  the  vernacular  schools. 

The  American  Board  mission  at  Bihe  is  suffering  suspension  for 
a  time  through  the  influence  of  Portuguese  traders.  It  is  believed 
that  the  interruption  is  but  temporary.  The  result  of  the  fifty  years’ 
labor  of  the  Board  among  the  Zulus  is  thus  given :  The  fif¬ 
teen  native  cnurches  report  a  membership  of  782,  with  a  gain 
this  year  of  118,  or  16  per  cent.,  and  their  annual  contributions 
to  all  purposes  amount  to  $3,694.  The  native  agency  consists  of  52 
preachers,  two  of  them  pastors;  42  teachers  and  43  other  help,  who, 
with  the  missionary  force  at  59  different  preaching  places,  are  pre¬ 
senting  the  Gospel  to  a  population  of  75,000.  The  work  of  higher 
education  is  carried  on  in  a  theological  school  with  15  pupils,  a  boys’ 
boarding  school  with  46  pupils,  and  two  girls’  boarding  schools  with 
88  pupils,  while  41  common  schools  give  instruction  to  1,700  pupils. 


23 


The  mission  located  on  Inhambane  Bay,  though  one  of  the  youngest 
missions  of  the  Board,  shows  itself  not  least  in  enterprise  or  industry 
Three  extended  journeys  of  exploration,  besides  several  shorter  ex¬ 
cursions,  are  reported  this  year,  and  valuable  result?  have  been  se¬ 
cured.  Large  populations  in  fertile  territory,  accessible  to  missionary 
labor,  have  been  found  between  the  Limpopo  river  and  the  coast.  The 
three  families  of  the  mission  have  their  several  places  of  residence 
amid  friendly  people  not  far  from  each  other,  and  from  these  three 
centres  they  are  now  ready  to  acquire  the  language  and  begin  system¬ 
atically  the  evangelical  work  which  they  hope  in  time  to  carry  from 
the  sea  to  the  heart  of  the  Continent. 

Bishop  William  Taylor,  who  is  at  the  head  of  a  missionary  col¬ 
ony  of  over  fifty  persons,  preachers,  physicians,  mechanics  and  farm¬ 
ers,  with  their  wives  and  thirteen  children,  presided  at  the  Liberia 
Annual  Conference  at  Monrovia  in  January.  The  Bishop  writes  from 
Nhangepepe,  June  19:  “I  and  a  half  dozen  of  our  men  are  out  here, 
about  300  miles  from  Loanda,  preparing  the  way  for  the  settlement  of 
our  families.  We  have  surveyed  a  mission  farm  of  over  2,000  acres 
of  splendid  land,  in  which  we  can  grow  anything  tropical  or  temper¬ 
ate.  The  people  receive  us  gladly.  This  is  a  place  that  we  must  oc¬ 
cupy;  fine  country,  2,300  feet  elevation  and  large  population.  This 
is  our  first  inland  station.” 

SAMUDU. 

A  Mandingo  chief,  Alimami  Samudu,  alias  Ibrahima  Sanan- 
kodu,  of  Beri,  some  1,000  miles  in  the  interior  of  Liberia,  is  reported 
to  have  an  army  of  100,000  men,  subduing  the  country  between  Tim- 
buctoo  and  the  coast,  and  opening  it  to  commerce.  He  is  represented 
to  be  about  40  yeais  of  age.  Messengers  sent  by  him  have  reached 
Sierra  Leone.  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  W.  Blyden,  than  whom  there  is  no 
better  authority  on  West  Africa,  and  the  extent  and  influence  of  Mo¬ 
hammedanism  in  that  country,  gives  the  follow  ing  interesting  account 
of  this  movement; 

•‘The  Governor  and  inhabitants  of  Sierra  Leone  have  been  re¬ 
cently  very  much  impressed  by  the  physical  and  mental  character  of 
the  hundred  representatives  who  came  to  the  government  from  the 
troops  of  Samudu,  the  Mandingo  warrior  from  the  Koniah  country, 
interior  of  Liberia,  who  is  driving  the  French  before  him  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  of  the  Niger.  They  could  all  read,  and  had  the  frame  of 
giants,  and  their  heads  the  intellect  of  statesmen.  These  people  nei¬ 
ther  in  themselves  nor  in  their  ancestry,  have  ever  been  affected  by 
liquor.  They  are  sober,  strong,  self-reliant.  Nor  have  they  been 
weakened  by  that  other  vice,  which,  in  this  nineteenth  century,  has 
caused  an  outcry  in  highly  enlightened  London.  The  young  men 


24 


retain  their  physical  integrity  and  purity  until  they  take  their  wife  or 
wives.  Mohammedan  law  recognizes  four  lawful  wives.  Every  woman 
has  her  husband  and  every  girl  is  betrothed.  The  people  are  com¬ 
pelled  to  be  pure.  Polygamy  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  where  it  is  an 
institution  transmitted  and  regulated  by  the  customs  and  laws  of 
generations,  is  a  different  thing  from  polygamy  in  civilized  communi¬ 
ties.  Among  the  aborigines  it  resembles  the  ancient  patriarchal  life, 
in  civilized  or  European  communities  or  colonies  it  would  resemble 
pandemonium. 

“I  had  the  opportunity  of  conversing  with  persons  belonging  to 
the  army  of  Samudu.  They  were  all  from  the  neighborhood  of  Me¬ 
dina  and  Musardu.  They  gave  me  the  following  information:  The 
main  road  from  the  interior— from  the  gold  regions  of  Boure  and  the 
cattle  districts — had  its  chief  outlets,  until  within  the  last  eighty 
years,  at  Wah  Koro  (Cape  Mount)  and  Durn  Koro  (Cape  Mesurado.) 
But  the  growth  of  Sierra  Leone  and’intermediate  wars  diverted  the 
trade  to  that  peninsula.  The  old  road  is  much  shorter  and  far  more 
convenient  from  Medina  and  Musardu  to  Monrovia,  Grand  Bassa, 
Sinou  and  Cape  Palmas  than  it  is  to  Sierra  Leone.  And  the  object 
of  Samudu  is  to  re-open  those  roads.  Already  the  wars  which  divert¬ 
ed  the  trade  of  Medina  and  Musardu  from  the  Liberian  coast  to  Sier¬ 
ra  Leone  and  Gambia  have  been  suppressed,  and  all  that  remains  to 
be  done  is  that  Liberia  should  take  advantage  of  these  openings  to 
enlarge  her  intercourse  with  the  interior.  Other  things  being  equal, 
geographical  convenience  will  determine  the  direction  of  trade. 

“And  the  opportunity  is  offering  itself  for  emigrants  to  push  out 
to  those  healthy  and  wealthy  regions,  where  cattle  and  horses  abound. 
Here  is  also  a  promising  field  for  distinctive  labor.  They  will  be  sure 
of  the  hearty  support  and  co-operation  of  those  intelligent  tribes, 
who  understand  the  advantage  of  a  neutral,  industrial  and  religious 
element  settling  in  their  country,  as  a  means  of  preserving  peace  and 
aiding  in  keeping  the  roads  open.  Liberia  has  already  entered  upon 
relations  with  those  people;  first,  through  Mr.  Benjamin  Anderson, 
the  explorer  of  Musardu,  and  more  recently  the  late  President  Gard¬ 
ner  conducted  negotiations  with  Ibrahima  Sissi,  King  of  Medina 
whose  place  is  now  taken  by  Samudu.” 

COLONIZATION. 

The  Congo  is  the  country  to  which  some  Americans  would  di¬ 
rect  the  people  of  color  to  emigrate  from  the  United  States.  We 
have  always  felt  about  the  efforts  of  Europeans  to  settle  the  Congo 
State  that  their  undertaking  would  not  prove  an  exception  to  the 
rule,  viz:,  that  Europeans  cannot  colonize  Equatorial  Africa.,  The 
policy  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  will  always  remain  the 


25 


true  and  only  policy  for  the  civilization  and  regeneration  of  the 
“Dark  Continent.”  Every  day’s  experience  is  proving  this.  Liberia 
is  not  only  the  most  fertile,  salubrious  and  beautiful  section  of  West 
Africa,  but  it  has  convenient  access  to  the  wealthiest  districts  of  the 
Niger  valley.  It  is  not  difficult  for  a  man  of  the  least  energy  to  make 
a  comfortable  living. 

Africa,  south  of  Liberia,  may  be  considered  inaccessible  to  Amer¬ 
icans.  It  does  not  seem  possible  for  them  to  get  a  foothold  in  the 
Cameroons,  where  the  Germans  control  the  trade,  or  in  Fernando 
Po,  subject  to  Spanish  rule,  or  in  the  Niger  country,  Dahomey,  the 
Gold  Coast  and  Ashantee,  all  under  English  influence.  Liberia  fur¬ 
nishes  the  most  promising  field  for  American  enterprise,  both  com¬ 
mercial  and  agricultural. 

A  recent  writer  on  “Some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  ex¬ 
tending  trade  in  Africa,”  complains  of  the  absence  of  labor  for  me¬ 
chanical,  agricultural  or  trading  purposes.  Now  the  Colonization  So¬ 
ciety  furnishes  Africa  with  labor  for  all  these  departments.  There  is  no 
other  part  of  the  Continent  where  so  many  mechanics  and  practical 
farmers  are  to  be  found  as  in  that  Republic.  Multiply  the  character¬ 
istics  of  Liberia  and  the  civilization  of  Africa  is  secured.  Bishop 
Gilbert  Haven  said:  “Let  Liberia  fill  up  her  land  with  farmers,  and 
she  will  conquer  Africa.”  Only  the  United  States  possesses  the 
agents  for  making  these  farms,  and  only  the  Colonization  Society  is 
able  to  assist  any  of  these  agents  to  remove  to  Africa.  The  Coloni¬ 
zation  Society  ought  to  be  much  encouraged,  for  God  is  showing  to 
the  world  that  its  methods  and  plans  for  Africa’s  civilization  and 
Christianization  are  the  most  practicable  and  effectual  methods. 

The  movement  among  the  descendants  of  Africa  in  this  country 
for  emigration  to  the  fatherland  is  causing  great  interest  all  along 
the  coast  in  and  out  of  Liberia,  and  an  earnest  desire  prevails  to  wel¬ 
come  the  returning  exiles.  There  are  vast  and  fruitful  districts  in 
the  Republic  awaiting  to  afford  them  comfortable  and  prosperous 
homes. 

To  the  regeneration  of  Africa  we  are  definitely  pledged  by  our 
work  in  Liberia,  by  our  shares  in  the  founding  of  the  Congo  Free 
State  and  by  our  leading  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  A 
more  glorious  inheritance  and  a  more  arduous  and  inspiring  enter¬ 
prise  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  and  history  is  not  likely  again  to 
furnish. 


26 


(Editorial  from  The  Sun  of  Baltimore.) 

SIXTH  ANNUAL  PAPER  ON  AFRIC  A. 

The  New  World  of  Africa. — The  first  part  of  the  sixth  an¬ 
nual  paper  on  Africa  by  Mr.  Wm.  Coppinger,  secretary  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Colonization  Society,  published  in  to-day’s  Sun,  sketches  in  an 
entertaining  and  instructive  manner  the  progress  of  the  movement 
of  annexation  and  colonization  by  which  hitherto  neglected  regions 
of  the  Dark  Continent  are  being  brought  into  permanent  political, 
commercial  and  industrial  relations  with  the  civilized  world.  Great 
trading  companies  are  seizing  the  points  of  advantage  on  every  un¬ 
occupied  coast,  and,  ascending  every  navigable  stream,  are  planting 
their  factories  far  inland  with  the  object  of  reaching  and  developing 
the  resources  of  a  mighty  territory.  A  valuable  feature  of  Mr  Cop- 
pinger’s  present  paper  is  the  comparatively  full  statement  it  presents 
of  the  limits  of  the  regions  “annexed”  or  taken  under  “protection” 
by  the  various  powers  of  Europe,  and  the  agreements  with  respect  to 
African  territory  entered  into  by  these  powers  during  the  past  year, 
including  a  summary  of  the  results  achieved  by  the  deliberations  of 
the  Berlin  Conference.  The  extent  of  recent  British  acquisitions  in 
the  basin  of  the  Niger,  on  the  east  coast  and  in  the  interior  north  of 
Cape  Colony  will  attract  attention,  but  especially  noteworthy  are  the 
large  additions  made  to  the  possessions  of  the  German  empire  in  the 
country  adjacent  to  and  west  of  Zanzibar.  England  and  Germany,  it 
wiil  be  observed,  have  parceled  out  between  them  about  all  that  was 
left  of  Southern  Africa,  while  in  the  central  and  northern  parts, 
France,  Spain,  Portugal  and  Italy  have  each  found  unconsidered  bits 
of  territory  worth  appropriating.  The  International  Association  has 
had  a  vast  empire  conceded  to  it  in  the  heart  of  the  Continent,  with 
a  strip  of  territory  extending  along  the  Congo  to  the  Atlantic  coast. 
It  is  no  doubt  gratifying  that  the  nations  of  Europe  should  be  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  development  of  Africa.  Its  people  lack  the  power  of  in¬ 
itiative.  Caucasian  intelligence  and  capital  may  give  a  much-needed 
impulse  to  them.  It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that  the  interest  at 
present  felt  in  them  by  European  governments  has  profit  rather  than 
progress  for  its  chief  inspiration.  November  28,  i88j. 

The  Dark  Continent. — The  second  part  of  the  sixth  paper  on 
Africa,  by  Mr  William  Coppinger,  secretary  of  the  American  Colo¬ 
nization  Society,  which  appears  in  another  column  of  to-day’s  Sun, 
deals  for  the  most  part  with  the  results  of  missionary  and  commer¬ 
cial  enterprise  during  the  past  year,  though  some  space  is  given  also 
to  political  and  geographical  questions  brought  into  prominence  by 


27 


recent  events.  Few  Americans  are  aware  of  the  hold  Christianity 
has  acquired  in  various  parts  of  Africa.  Missionary  stations  are  do¬ 
ing  active  work  in  Sierra  Leone,  Gaboon,  Benguela,  Natal,  Zanzibar, 
Mombas  and  Abyssinia.  Leaving  the  coast,  the  videttes  of  the  ad¬ 
vancing  army  of  Christian  teachers  have  penetrated  to  the  African 
lake  region,  and  to  those  parts  of  the  interior  accessible  by  way  of 
the  Gambia,  the  Niger,  the  Ogove,  the  Congo  and  the  Zambezi. 
Steamers  constructed  in  the  interest  of  the  furtherance  of  Christian¬ 
ity  are  to-day  navigating  the  lakes  Nyassa,  Victoria  Nyanza  and 
Tanganyika,  not  to  mention  others  in  use  on  the  Niger,  on  the  Con¬ 
go  above  Stanley  Falls,  and  at  Zanzibar  and  Mombas.  The’  results 
are  not  incommensurate  with  the  exertions  put  forth.  In  the  Gold 
Coast,  Yoruba  and  Popo  dis:ricts,  for  example,  there  are  287  local 
preachers,  6  716  church  members  and  20,075  persons  habitually  at¬ 
tending  public  worship.  In  Sierra  Leone  the  church  is  almost  self- 
supporting.  The  Cape  Palmas  diocese  numbers  425  communicants 
and  among  the  Zulus  there  are  782  church  members,  while  the  num¬ 
ber  accustomed  to  attend  services  reaches  75,000.  The  delightful 
region  about  Mt.  Kilimanjaro,  about  250  miles  northwest  of  Mombas, 
which  has  already,  by  reason  of  its  magnificent  scenery,  elevation 
and  healthfulness,  been  designated  -‘the  Switzerland  of  Africa,”  will 
soon  be  occupied  by  a  devoted  band  sent  out  hy  the  Church  Mission¬ 
ary  Society.  The  trade  of  West  Africa  becomes  yearly  of  increased 
volume  despite  the  prevailing  depression.  Unhappily  rum  and  gin 
are  the  commodities  most  in  favor  with  the  African.  The  su¬ 
perintendent  of  Lutheran  missions  in  West  Africa  went  out  to  the 
scene  of  his  labors  on  a  vessel  which  had  in  its  hold  100,000  gallons 
of  New  England  rum,  and  shiploads  of  like  poisonous  stuff  are  pour¬ 
ing  into  the  country.  South  Africa  fares  no  better,  brandy  “destroy¬ 
ing  the  good  the  Gospel  has  done  to  the  Basutos.,’  The  British,  how¬ 
ever,  exported  to  West  Africa  as  much  as  $2,800,000  worth  of  cotton 
goods  and  $1,500,000  of  other  goods.  For  the  past  ten  years  the  aver¬ 
age  of  British  exports  to  the  west  coast  has  exceeded  $10,000,000. 
With  a  view  to  better  communication,  a  new  cable,  to  touch  at  points 
in  Portuguese  and  British  territory,  is  being  laid  along  the  coast.  Mr. 
Coppinger  suggests  that  in  view  of  the  interest  of  the  United  States 
in  Liberia,  and  in  the  development  of  commerce  with  the  regions  be¬ 
yond,  Congress  should  appropriate  $25,000  to  explore  West  Africa 
from  Monrovia  to  the  Niger.  Tiie  trade  of  the  upper  Niger  would 
prefer  to  reach  the  coast  by  way  of  Liberia  rather  than  by  the  longer 
route  through  Sierra  Leone,  if  artificial  obstructions  created  by  petty 
wars  were  wholly  removed.  As  tending  to  open  this  shorter  trade 
route,  the  reported  conquests  of  Samudu,  a  Mandingo  chief  of  Beri, 


28 


a  thousand  miles  in  the  interior,  are  of  interest.  With  an  army  of 
100,000  men  he  is  said  to  be  subduing  the  country  between  Timbuc- 
too  and  the  coast  with  the  intention  of  pacifying  those  regions  in 
the  interests  of  unrestricted  trade  with  the  African  coast.  It  is  in  the 
power  of  our  government  to  secure  advantages  for  American  trade 
with  West  Africa  should  Congress  see  fit  to  take  the  necessary  steps, 
December  i,  iSSj. 


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-  i'-'  V* 


